Distance Education for Language Teachers, Ron Howard & Ian McGrath (Eds.) UK: Multilingual Matters, 1995 209 pages. |
VOL. 10, No. 2, 115-118
Distance Education for Language Teachers is one of a number of books published by Multilingual Matters, a publisher specializing in topics related to language education. This particular publication is the proceedings of a symposium on distance education for language educators held by the Institute for Applied Language Studies (IALS) in the UK in May 1993. The aims of the symposium were to provide practitioners in this field with an opportunity to meet and share their work with others, to provide a forum for the presentation of current ideas and research, and to publish the proceedings for those unable to attend.
The book includes 15 articles, averaging 13 pages in length. The majority of authors appear to have expertise in language education, and some of those also had expertise in distance education. A few had experience in distance education but less expertise in language education. The result is a mixed bag of articles, some relating more to distance education than to a combination of distance education and the education of language teachers.
Following the foreword to the book by Eric H. Glendinning, Director of IALS, which gives a background to the symposium, is a list of the contributors and their backgrounds. The authors’ contexts help readers understand the approach taken in each article and give an idea of the kind of background knowledge required to understand the content of the chapter. The introduction by the book’s editors is similarly helpful in providing a background to the emergence of this interest area. Its overview of the book’s contents sets the stage for the diverse articles presented. The book moves from general issues related to distance education to specific cases of distance-delivered teacher training and then back to a general discussion of quality distance education for language educators.
In the overview, the editors describe 10 areas that are covered by the authors (some authors cover more than one area): advantages and disadvantages (of distance education and/or distance-delivered language teacher education); exploiting the potential of open learning and distance education; administration; learner autonomy; distance vs. face-to-face instruction; the role of technology; print-based materials; evaluation; modern-language teaching; and quality control. The editors further point to the following eight recurring themes and potential research questions: the relationship between and mutual contribution of distance education and face-to-face education in programs for language teachers; how inherent features of distance education can be counteracted or positively exploited; the nature of interactivity between course participants and materials and the potential contributions and limitations of advanced technologies; experiential distance learning; quality control; motivation and dropout; study skills training; and the effectiveness of teachers educated in a distance mode.
The following chapter by chapter summary will provide further insight into the content of each article. Chapter 1 nicely outlines the advantages and disadvantages of open learning, distinguishing between open learning and distance education.
Chapter 2 focuses on the value of distance teacher education in developing nations, where large numbers of educators must be reached. The author points to the challenge of balancing general and subject education with professional pedagogical education and teacher skills development. She cites evidence of teacher classroom effectiveness upon program completion and proposes that combing distance education with contact may be the best way to achieve the desired results.
Chapter 3 describes three models of the administration of distance education and the advantages and disadvantages of each. This author also discusses the weaker features of distance education, pointing out issues such as the isolation and lack of group interaction experienced by distance learners. He emphasizes the need for appropriate supports for learners to build self-confidence as well as the value of distance education in modelling and promoting learner autonomy.
In Chapter 4, a case study illustrates how isolated distance learners using print-based materials can focus too much on received knowledge and not enough on the reflection required to build competence in the classroom. While the author sheds light on challenges to distance educators, her discussion is also of interest to those involved in face-to-face teacher education. She offers several solutions to balancing received knowledge with reflection, such as using the classroom as a laboratory, forming peer networks, and assigning group projects.
In Chapter 5, the author presents a concise outline of the advantages of mixed mode and practical strategies for implementing this approach. The authors of Chapter 6 also support a balance of distance-delivery and face-to-face instruction. However, the second chapter is more difficult to follow than the previous one.
Chapter 7 describes a language course that uses computer technology. The article is well-organized and clear in its description of how the course is constructed, and it will be useful to those interested in this use of computer-based instruction. Unfortunately, some of the illustrations used in the article are illegible.
In Chapter 8, the author outlines how telematics, the integration of computers and telecommunications systems, is being used to educate language teachers across Europe in a large pilot project of the European Community’s DELTA (Developing European Learning through Techno-logical Advance) initiative. This article shows the possibilities of large-scale multi-mode delivery as well as the advantages and challenges that this kind of system poses. The article will be of most interest to more experienced distance educators.
Chapter 9 describes the author’s work-in-progress on computer conferencing and interactivity. It gives an informative overview of CMC, the conditions that affect CMC interaction, and features that will address these conditions. She also discusses the tutor’s role and implications of this role. While the article contains a great deal of information, its style interferes with the reader’s comprehension of the content.
In Chapter 10, the authors suggest providing learners with partly deconstructed texts to help them interact with and integrate the content of print-based courses. They offer a number of strategies for doing this, as well as a progression for presenting content, and they mention the importance of including learner feedback. The article is relevant for both distance educators and those involved in face-to-face education.
In Chapter 11, the author focuses on the discourse structure of print-based course materials. He offers a large amount of data on analyses conducted with print-based materials to determine learner preferences. He ends with suggestions for effective discourse in print-based materials. The last half of the article is heavy reading and may lose many readers. Chapter 12 supports distance education as an effective way to present content so that learners come well-prepared to face-to-face sessions. Chapters 13 and 14 describe distance-delivered programs for French language instruction. Chapter 13 addresses the instruction of tutors. Chapter 14 offers a novel approach to teacher education for teachers and returning teachers that uses course materials to model good instruction. Both cases are informative, clearly presented, and readable.
Although every chapter outlines aspects of distance education in some way, the final chapter returns to a more general treatment by addressing concepts of quality. The author recommends the open learning philosophy as an alternative to the industrial model of distance education, a model that is contrary to the more humanistic paradigm of language educators. Through the article, he points to activities as well as possibilities in open learning. It is not always easy to follow the author’s train of thought, and it may take several readings to grasp his main points fully.
Readers who are novices to distance education would gain a great deal from some of the articles and less from those written for a more experienced audience. Readers new to teacher education might experience similar frustrations. As a distance educator in TESL and instructional designer of distance education courses and programs for the past eight years, I felt I gained something from each article. However, I found some articles to be unnecessarily academic and heavy going considering the content. In more than one case, I was tempted to skip over the detailed data presentation and analysis to the summary or conclusions section of the article in order to find out what the author was trying to get at. However, often the last section of the paper left me no further ahead! Upon reflection, I feel that the editors’ overview of the book in the introduction effectively summarized the main concepts in the book, and that it was therefore unnecessary for me to have read a number of the articles.
It was a challenge to sit down and read these proceedings without having had the opportunity to attend the symposium from which they arose. The information in the articles, the way in which they were linked, and the style in which they were written reflected oral presentations transferred to print. Other than the introduction, there seemed to be little effort to link the chapters to each other in any way that would make the publication hang together as a book. Nor was there much effort to target the book to a specific audience. Finally, the writing style of about half the articles was unclear and assumed a great deal of background knowledge on the part of the reader. It would have been preferable in this case to have attended the symposium where interaction with the authors for clarification, questioning, and exploration of concepts and theses would have been possible.
The most intriguing quotation in the book is, “If forced, we can all choose between strawberries and cream but we would hardly see one as an alternative to the other and most people would see the benefit of combining the flavours” (Haworth & Parker, p. 90). In the case of this book, I was dismayed to have to consume strawberries with no cream: to read without an opportunity to interact with the authors!
Ruth Epstein
Instructional Designer/ESL Specialist
Extension Division
The University of Saskatchewan
117 Science Place
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5C8